Roche moves jobs to New York City

CLIFTON – After teetering back and forth between New Brunswick and New York City, Hoffmann-La Roche announced last week that its new Translational Clinical Research Center will be opening in Manhattan at the end of 2013.

The pharmaceutical giant received final presentations on two sites, one in the vicinity of Rutgers University, but ultimately settled on the Alexandria Center for Life Sciences in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, said. Roche Public Affairs Director Darien Wilson.

"We are very pleased with the selection of the Alexandria Center as this will be a strategically important site for Roche," said Dr. Mike Burgess, acting global head, Roche Pharma Research and Early Development, via a press release.

Roche will become the anchor tenant the Alexandria Center is looking for to continue construction of a west tower that Wilson said will be approximately 16 floors when finished, the top two of which Roche has signed on for an 11-year lease.

Wilson said the tipping point for moving out of the state and across the bridge was twofold: Roche has nine existing viral science, neuroscience and oncology collaborations in the New York City area, versus one in New Jersey, and the Alexandria Center is already an established hub for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. Additionally, New York City provides access to facilities such as Columbia University.

A similar and appealing scientific collaborative hub combining Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, University of Medicine and Dentistry in New Jersey and Rutgers University is currently in talks to be established in New Jersey, Wilson said, but because the ball has not gotten rolling on that project, tapping into the pre-existing Manhattan structure became ideal.

More than 200 employees from the Pharma Research and Early Development division and Product Development division of Roche on the Clifton and Nutley site will be moving to the new Translational Clinical Research Center when it opens at the end of next year. Responsibilities will include putting research into clinical testing, working with the Food and Drug Administration and working to maintain collaborations with U.S. partners.

However, due to positive discussions between Roche and the New Jersey Governor's Office, Wilson said that roughly 50 management positions will be made available at a currently undecided office in Northern New Jersey. The positions will be filled by employees currently at the Clifton and Nutley site and those workers will be responsible for more corporate and legal business.

Clifton Mayor James Anzaldi said he was aware those more than 200 jobs would not be coming back to Clifton and Nutley when Roche made the announcement late in June that they would be vacating their 119-acre property after 83 years; however, he said he was hoping those jobs would open up in New Brunswick and admitted to being a little disappointed the Translational Clinical Research Center will not be established in New Jersey.

"We're trying our best to work with Roche and Nutley to come up with something great for the property," said Anzaldi. "Nutley and Clifton are [working together] to [develop] plans for the property so both towns are on the same page. And we're asking Roche for help with that, as well."

Anzaldi said splitting the property with Nutley, 60 percent of which lies in Clifton, is the opposite direction the two towns are headed. The municipalities are currently working on an overlay zone, Anzaldi said, adding Roche will have to define that more clearly so zoning ordinances can be put in place.

Clifton and Nutley officials began meetings in early July with members of the Governor's Office, who brought in experts from the New Jersey Department of Commerce and New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development. One idea was to hire a single planner to work on the property for both towns.

Some important parameters on finding a new tenant for the property have been agreed on by Clifton and Nutley, including no quality of life issues - most notably high vehicle traffic - and the creation of good, full-time jobs. Officials from both towns have expressed a disinterest in using the site for retail shops and residential purposes.

The announcement in July that Roche would be closing the site in Clifton and Nutley came as a big shock to many, especially the roughly 1,000 employees who will be facing staggering layoffs over the next year.

Roche made good in August on an initial promise to open a Transition and Learning Center on the campus that will provide services to employees including individual career counseling, workshops and job search tools. Roche additionally plans to host career fairs and employer events, as well as offer unemployment insurance seminars.

The Transition and Learning Center will operate through June 2013 and employees will have access to the facility, its programs and expert staff members even after their employment is terminated.

At the end of August, Roche announced no buildings would be coming down until after 2013. Roche will continue to pay taxes at whatever the assessments are now, meaning property taxes will be stable for Clifton and Nutley residents through 2013.

Roche announced at the end of June that they would close the site in favor of consolidating research activity in Europe. Pharmaceutical research carried out in the area will be discontinued or transferred as operations phase out and shutdown over the next 16 months.